


Insecure - Vision x Shadow

by Roses_and_lightnings



Category: Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Cute Vision (Marvel), F/M, Fluff, Human Vision (Marvel), OC, OC/Canon, Post-Avengers: Age of Ultron (Movie), Post-Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie), Protective Vision (Marvel), Romantic Fluff, Sweet Vision (Marvel), Vision x Reader - Freeform, imagine
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-15
Updated: 2019-06-15
Packaged: 2020-05-12 12:20:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,944
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19229023
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Roses_and_lightnings/pseuds/Roses_and_lightnings
Summary: Trying to get dressed for a party, Shadow feels really insecure about the way she looks, and that's when Vision walks in and helps the girl see how pretty she actually is.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> English is not my first language. Warn me about any errors.

I want you to know this story is nothing much than adventures of my recently created OC, Shadow, with my favorite canon character. Since I've been going round this marvelous MCU world passed some months, Vision x Reader imagines always lifted my spirits, and one day, like a good writer I am, and idea popped into my head out of nowhere and I just decided to create a special character to partake in the stories I was reading. Although, reading Imagines with an OC is very difficult due to the various kinds of contents that just can't fit the character, so, I was willing to create my own story to this special character, turning her an official, also taking part of an English writing training, and I think it is beautiful. 

So, first things first you need to know the character you are dealing with, so...

This is Shadow:

\- She has a name, but she doesn't remember it;

\- Has a huge crush on Vision;

\- Has a gothic appearance, only wears black, comfortable clothes;

\- Her hair is curly and black, and her eyes are green;

\- She is chubby and little;

\- Has an eyebrow piercing;

\- Always with black lipstick, always;

\- Has an antisocial personality, she rather stays alone, with music and games, in her room;

\- Despite that, the Avengers are her only family and she feels comfortable around them, specially Tony and Steve, but she prefers her own company and solitude most of the time;

\- She tells Tony to eat shit when he invites her to his parties;

\- She used do have depression, low self-esteem and trusting problems, but those disappear little by little after Age of Ultron;

\- Joined the team in the Winter Soldier movie. She was one of the experiments that was able to break free and was living near when Cap found her after he's saved by Bucky. She's 20 and got her powers one year before;

\- She’s been living in the Compound all those years;

\- Those experiments searched for increasing people abilities and powers, some of the Inhumans were on it, but Shadow willingly joined because she was hoping for it to fail and kill her. Instead, it gave her her powers;

\- She's the power of turning into a dark gas matter called shadow, really useful occult powers that gave her name. Once in her shadowy form, she can fly and go through walls. She can't hold objects, though, so, most of the time she was just a spy. She loved it because she hates being noticed. But it was created a suit for her that disappeared along and could allow her to hold and turn things to shadow as well. Her power increases, and she's also the ability to reduce people to ashes. Her eyes glow when she does that. She digs these abilities because she's not into fighting, and all she has to do is touch people and use her powers or fire it away;

\- She hates shoes and walking barefoot, so she just wears black socks;

\- A cat person;

\- Her blood is black due to shadow in its liquid form running through her veins. Some people know this because she used to cut;

\- By "some people", I mean Vision;

\- Shadow fell in love with him at first sight, she was present when he was created and always thought he was quite handsome, but most of all, she is completely into his naive, innocent, caring, curious and gentle personality. He's full of qualities and everything she ever wanted on a man;

\- But rejection is her worst fear. She's never been in a relationship, she was bullied a lot in high school, and because her appearance, she was rejected by the boys she confessed, so she feared the same would happen if she told Vision about what she feels;

\- But that doesn't stop them from being really good and close friends. Vision is the one Shadow truly trusts and will never doubt of, and that's why she was on Stark’s side in Civil war;

\- They were huge BROTP goals;

\- Vision is always supporting her and trying to improve and help her to work out her self-esteem and confidence, and this just makes her melt;

\- When he caught her cutting once, he told Stark because he didn't understand why she was doing that, and he was really in a bad mood after Civil War, so he went and preached Shadow about people having bigger problems than hers and Vision was watching, so he figured it out and stopped Tony. He got really upset and defensive, and Tony realized his mistakes and helped her to heal the scars. She stopped doing that from that day on;

\- When she turns to shadow, she doesn't feel anything, so after she feels pain, she occults so she can be at peace and returns whenever she thinks she feels better;

\- There are a few Avengers who can sense her even when she's shadow, with their abilities or not. Those are Scarlet Witch, Spider Man (with spidey sense), Mantis, Doctor Strange (the Ancient One and the wizards as well) and Vision (Vision can see her because of the Mind Stone);

\- Her and Vision are currently dating, and Shadow is getting everyday better because of his support. She even became more social, started liking her body more, stopped cutting and even went to one of Tony's parties and risked drinking, trying to lift Thor's hammer, and dancing;

\- Vision gave her a name: Gabriela. And she loved it. They were once talking about her name being the only thing she doesn't remember after the experiments, and Vision offered to choose her a new name. He searched for girl names on the internet and chose the one he liked the most. Only him can call her by that name;

\- She doesn't call Vision by Vis. She rather letting it to Wanda;

\- Gabriela loves gardening, but she only does that at night, with specific flowers: orchids, jasmines and other nighttime characteristic plants. Vision helps her by watering them during daytime;

\- Also, she is a nocturn person. She sleeps during the day and stays awake till the dusk, because she likes the sunrise;

\- She has a cat and an owl that live on her bedroom. The cat is black and called Bagheera and the owl is white and called Moon. She loves them and treats them as her children;

\- She's not a fan of books;

\- Her favorite movie is Monster House, except no matter how many times she watches it, she's scared as shit of the house, hates the children and likes Zee and the Nebbercracker;

\- Vision knows all her tastes for food, music, movies and often knows what to say or do to make her happy. He panics when he doesn't;

\- She tries to learn new languages, like French, Spanish and the wakandan dialect, and Vision helps her with that;

\- She doesn't like children, but finds this ironic since Vision is like one;

\- Gabriela is afraid of horror movies, but she enjoys watching them, and every time she does, she is afraid of sleeping alone or turning to shadow, so she calls Vision to hug her while she sleeps;

\- She tried to kill Thanos with her powers in the last battle, but she didn't succeed. Some advanced beings in his army could see or sense and attack her. Yet, she got close to Thanos, but couldn't touch or fire at him because of his defenses;

\- She was turn into ashes after the Infinity War events. She died inside when Wanda killed Vision, so she didn't feel bad about dying.

I could tell you what happens to her past the Endgame, but I don't want to give you any spoilers.

This is something that happens before IW and past Age of Ultron. Your reading will begin now. I hope you enjoy it.


	2. Insecure

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Trying to get dressed for a party, Shadow feels really insecure about the way she looks, and that's when Vision walks in and helps the girl see how pretty she actually is.

“Why does Tony have to throw a party every time we return from a mission? It really makes me wish I hadn’t survived it…” - Shadow mumbled, desperately looking for something decent to wear. She knew that not going to one of Tony’s parties just for “not being in the mood” was an outrageous and almost unforgivable offense to the billionaire, since she apparently had past the phase of being the seclude goth everyone knew at the time.

The worst part of it all was that there was nothing in her closet that looked good. The only things she wore were the comfortable usual ones: a few coats she borrowed from Vision, black shirts, black jackets, black jeans, black skirts, black sweatpants, all kinds of black socks, and of course, her uniform, nothing appropriate for a party. And she didn’t even want to start talking about the fact that some of them were covered in cat fur, whose culprit was peacefully sleeping in one of her favorite sweaters. The green-eyed girl knew she couldn’t borrow a dress from the other girls in the team, since... well, their quite obvious distinction when it comes to body size and shape. In clearer words, none of them had clothes that would really fit her.

Searching deep into the closet, she actually found something that could do. A fancy black lace dress, that the remembered buying it to attend some press conference some years ago. She remembered being a little lighter, taking a closer look at its size. When the girl bought that dress, she had been living with the Avengers for just a few months. Not eating decent food, living poorly and lonely by the lake seemed like something that did right for her weight. She was indeed thinner.

\- ONE HOUR TO THE PARTY, LADIES!! DON’T BE LATE! – Stark dropped outta nowhere, clearly drunk before the party even started, banging loudly at all the doors in the corridor.

Shadow was startled by a scared wheezing coming from the other side of the room.

\- Your freaked Moon out, ASSHOLE!! - She quickly opened the door and screamed, throwing a pillow on his direction, that he deviated like a pro he was.

\- One hour! – He repeated. – You’re coming!! – Demanded, drinking from a fancy glass of champagne.

Shadow shut the door, giving a mental middle finger to the playboy and pulling her hair back in disgust.

\- Come! Come here, Moon! – She called, extending her arm.

The beautiful snowy owl, seemingly scared by the loud, sudden noise at first, attended to her owner’s call and calmly landed on her forearm. Shadow caressed her white and black feathers, quietly cursing the man that was there a moment ago, for he surely knowing birds were delicate creatures, still insisted pissing her off scaring her beloved pet like that. She took a calcium treat from her pocket and gave it to her, praising how much of a good girl she was, when she actually was relieved for one year ago Moon would have flown over and ruined her hair with no mercy. But once trained, couldn’t owls be the kindest birds? Yes, they could.

Forgetting the real problem for a while, Shadow looked at the dress hanging on the closet, and for a moment, she wished she could just go downstairs and tell Tony to eat shit, just like the old times, and spend the night locked in her room, watching some movies with her pet-children. And maybe…

She avoided whispering her lover’s name, once he could hear her from a mile away, and the last thing she wanted was for him to see her in such state. Finally, she had gathered enough courage to try on the clothing. Much to her surprise, it still fitted despite being a little tight, nothing too uncomfortable as she thought, but still nothing compared to what other girls wore on Stark’s parties. 

\- Geez... – She whined, taking a look in the mirror.

Shadow had always been chubby, since she was a kid. She managed to adapt herself better to her own body as she grew, but she had never been able to completely accept herself. Her thick arms and thighs, accentuated curves and folds, her belly marked by the dress, there was nothing there that pleased her and surely wouldn’t please the others. The more she looked, more flaws she counted, and it just made her want to hide herself from everyone. Those memories from high school coming to life again, something she would never be able to forget. Knives cut her heart slowly as she felt tears rolling down her face, biting her lips.

She felt humiliated by being a full grown up adult and still crying like a child over something superficial as her body. When would she ever learn? Intense flow of feelings kept her from noticing Vision when he walked in and stood there, a worried face showing as he detected her levels of serotonin quickly decreasing. He had seen Shadow cry many, many times, and yet, every time it happened, he always felt something very unpleasing on his chest area.

The sad girl braced herself, hugging her own arms and trying to find comfort as she slowly began to fade away in shadow.

\- Gabriela…? – The soft pleasant voice brought her to reality in a way she immediately converted into her normal form after hearing her name being called.

Realizing she was no longer by herself, Shadow instinctively pulled from the closet and covered herself with a coat, shyly trying to hide her crying face.

\- You startled me. - She said in a serious low tone, trying to sound angry instead of sad. Vision whispered an apology and tilted his head, trying to understand his girlfriend’s unusual behavior.

\- Why are you hiding? – He asked calmly, getting a little closer to her, extending his hands hoping he could make her let go of the coat.

Shadow just looked down and touched his chest, pushing him away. He gave her a puzzled look in result of her actions.

\- I just didn’t want you to see me like this, Vision. – She turned at the mirror, taking another look at herself, confirming she had the reasons to feel what she was feeling. – I won’t go to the party, if that’s why you’ve come. Now if you excuse me…

She was interrupted by strong arms hugging her shoulders from behind in a protective way. Gabriela sighed as she dropped the coat and held his arms firmly. How could she possibly resist to her boyfriend’s kind and warm embrace, especially when he did it like that?

\- That’s not why I came. – He affirmed, whispering to her ear.

The girl let go some tears, staring at her feet to avoid her reflection. Vision came to understand that the issue had something to do with the way she looked.

– I don’t understand… what is the matter with your dress?

\- T-There’s nothing wrong with the dress… - She answered. - It’s… I-it’s just me. I am hideous. – She sobbed heavily after repeating what all those kids in school used to tell her.

\- No… - The android said, shocked. - How can you be hideous…? I believe your mirror is broken, or perhaps… your eyes are. – He stood in front of her, leaning forward to her height, taking a closer look on her green orbs.

She stared at that beautiful and clean, compassionate blue with her soaked eyes, trying vainly to avoid the tears from falling.

\- Ah, but of course! Your tears are blurring your eyes, that’s why you can’t see properly, my dear. - Vision smiled innocently, wiping them away with his thumbs. He looked at her from head to toe and frowned, firmly shaking his head in disagreement.

\- Ever since I was born, I’ve been trying to understand the human concept of beauty. You have different point of views, yes, but you all seem to agree that what is shown on movies and magazines is aesthetically perfect. – He started to talk, slowly making Shadow unwillingly turn at the mirror, and descending his soft hands to reach out to hers.

Reluctantly, she let Vision take hold of them, while trying to understand what his point was. He caressed his girlfriend’s trembling hands as he kept going:

\- Then maybe… I am malfunctioning, because I am unable to see this “beauty”. However… I see beauty in you, Gabriela. – She shivered when she heard her given name being tenderly said. - You are my concept of perfection. Every single curve on your body, each one of your traits... – He gently started running his hands through all her body, highlighting every single thing he liked. – It finally made me comprehend what beauty truly means.

Shadow stared at him in disbelief, tears still dripping down from her eyes. She was still stubborn in feeling angry somehow, as if she knew Vision was lying to her only to make her feel better, which was definitely not the case, since he had never mastered this whole lying thing, and even if he did, he would never lie to her. Yet, those voices on her head were telling her the exact same opposite and that she should hate everything about her.

\- And what do you want me to say? I don’t get it… you must be malfunctioning. I’m sorry but… I can’t believe it. – She whispered, angrily shaking her head, letting all her insecure self be shown. All of her life with him, she swore at herself she would truly trust and never doubt of his words, no matter what happened, but she just couldn’t understand it now. She was about to proceed with her indignant babble when Vision cut her off.

\- I understand. You are confused, for you and I have distinct point of views upon this issue, but you need to trust me, as you always do, my dear. I am being as sincere as possible when I say that you are beautiful. I don’t expect you to believe me, neither I want you to say anything. As a matter of fact, there is only one thing I want…

Before finishing his speech, Vision grasped Gabriela’s face and pulled her into a deep passionate kiss, his newest form of demonstrating his undying love and devotion for his girlfriend, who couldn’t even react to the sudden action.

\- I want people to see you as I do. - Vision whispered, his lips ghosting on hers.

Negative thoughts were now nothing but a blur by now when tears of joy sprouted on the corner of her eyes, and a smile formed on her lips, followed by Vision’s own satisfied smile.

\- Vision... Thank you... I love you so much! - That was all she could say while she threw herself in his arms, hugging him tight. Vision held her even tighter, relieved that he could make his girl smile again.

\- I love you too. – He gently said, getting used to the sensation of letting those words out.

Gabriela felt quiet peace wrapping up her heart as she reviewed the words she listened from her boyfriend. It was honestly the kindest, most beautiful things she’d ever heard about herself. That was her Vision, always supporting her and trying to improve and help her to work out her self-esteem and confidence, and this just makes her melt from inside out. Their relationship was based on all this support, love and trust she received from him since the time they were just friends, and it would always keep this passionate fire burning within that would keep her safe and sound from any trace of insecurity she had, till the end of time, with certain.

The moment was interrupted by a loud meow, alerting the two of them about one sneaky Natasha Romanoff standing by the door, appreciating the lovey-dovey scene. They turned to look at her, Gabriela clearly embarrassed. The black cat let go of his nap to jump off the bed and start to lovingly rub itself on the woman’s leg, purring.

\- Hey, you little! – She pet the animal with the tip of her fingers, then raised her look to Shadow. - Sorry, I should have knocked. – She giggled, constrained.

\- It’s ok, you didn’t… - She awkwardly shook her hands till she realized the little bastard was trying to climb Natasha’s dress. - Bagheera!! Let go of aunt Nat this instant!

Vision tried to contain his laugh when he saw his girlfriend insisting in treat her pets like children.

\- So, what do you need? – She asked, pulling the cat away from her and tossing it into the bed.

\- Oh, yes, you see, I can kill people with my bare hands, but I can’t reach the zipper of this dress, how funny is that? – She pointed towards her own back.

Shadow laughed as she went to help her friend, reaching the zipper and pulling it up.

\- There.

\- Ms. Romanoff, what do you think of my Gabriela’s outfit? She thinks she looks fat, what do you think about that? - Vision asked nonchalantly, making his girlfriend hide her face in her hands.

Natasha look at her from head to toe, puzzled.

\- Wait? Are you serious, Shad? – She used the old nickname. - You look so cute in this dress, and that neckline really suits you! Vis should be glad he’s dating you, otherwise you’d be drowning in men by now.

Gabriela headed at the mirror one more time to look at her dress. It seemed a lovely dress, she thought she could use it with a lace tiara and some comfortable enough boots, and with the right makeup she could bring out all the gothic potential she had there. It was rare for her to think good stuff about herself.

\- You… you think so? – She asked, feeling her cheeks warmer as her face turned a slight shade of red.

\- You bet your ass.

\- Language!! - Steve shouted when he passed outside the room, also drunk. A hoot of agreement came from the white owl.

Natasha put her hands on her hips and smirked.

\- Thanks for the help, you’re a lifesaver.

\- THIRTY MINUTES, FOLKS!! I WANT TO SEE YOU ALL THERE!! – Tony, again, screamed from halfway across the corridor.

\- Perhaps it is better for me to get dressed as well. Mr. Stark has been whining a lot about how he doesn’t want anyone to be late for the party. – Vision pronounced after being dead quiet for a while, drawing the women attention to himself.

\- Oh… You’re going! – Gabriela said, not knowing he would come.

\- How do they say… I wouldn’t miss it? – He tried to recall the proper thing to say.

\- In that case, you better be going, or Tony will turn you to a toaster. Can you please tell him to calm the shit down? I can’t stand his screaming about it every five minutes. – Natasha complained. – I can stay and help Shad with her makeup.

\- Yes, of course. – He started to glide his way out of the room.

\- Wait! – Shadow grabbed his hand. – Are you… doing anything later?

He smiled.

\- It depends on what your plans are. - Vision nodded, gave her one last kiss and whispered an “I love you, Gabriela” before heading towards the door, walking this time. – I’ll be seeing you. Later.

Nat watched him as he did so, sighing as soon as he left the room.

\- He uses doors now? How cute! You’re really changing him! – She sneered playfully, making Shadow laugh at his cuteness.

While Natasha searched for the makeup kit inside her closet and found the huge black lipsticks collection, Gabriela looked at herself in the mirror, and sighed heavily again. “I think they’re right” - she thought, placing her hands on her hips and a smile on her lips while she headed for her shoes, feeling thankful she had such great friends and a wonderful boyfriend, the best man she could ever wish on her life.

After that night, she finally gave Vision’s coats back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you find any grammar or spelling mistakes, you can notify me. English is not my first language and this was a training, and I would be glad by your feedback.


End file.
